


It's a Wonderful Life After All

by sfrancis101095



Category: Golden Girls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 21:04:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19411375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sfrancis101095/pseuds/sfrancis101095
Summary: Dorothy goes to sleep wondering if she could would she choose to go back in time and not sleep with Stan and then wakes up back in high school with the chance to change her life.





	It's a Wonderful Life After All

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Golden Girls

As Dorothy lies down for bed, she can’t help but think about if she would change it all, if she could. The moment that set her life in motion was not the most monumental memory, more like a dull thud which apparently was all Stan was ever good for. Tonight over the usual double chocolate cheesecake and coffee, the girls had been reminiscing over lost opportunities and Dorothy had begun to think of the opportunity that she wish had been lost to time. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“If I could change anything, I would go back and take Waylon Hanks up on his offer to meet behind the bleachers after the championship game,” Blanche said taking a deep sigh, seeming lost in the idea of Waylon Hanks.

“I wish I could go back in time and try harder to convince the town to choose not to re-elect Ms. Betsy as mayor, Lenny Linderflot’s prize cow who led St. Olaf into a nasty feud with the neighboring town, St. Gustav. We were so pleased the first time she was mayor with all the community service and free milk-”

“Rose pleeeease, I can’t go back and unhear this story,” Sophia said getting up and walking out of the kitchen. 

Dorothy remained quiet and in thought. She had felt stagnant lately with substitute teaching and had been wishing for something, just something different. Dorothy began to think of that night, about forty years ago in the back of that studebaker….

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dorothy woke up with a start. The air felt different and it was an unsettling change. Colder, crisper. Dorothy sat up quickly feeling the stress of the light already pouring in her bedroom kickstarting her morning routine on top of realizing that something is really off. Such a strange dream to start the day off and she felt as if it would keep her in a weird mood all day.

“Dorothy, please get up. I do not want to be supporting you financially into your golden years. You have to go to school.” Sophia says doing two quick bangs on the door with her fist and walking on to Phil’s room. 

Dorothy hops out of bed. She found it odd that she kept noticing how smooth her joints moved and how easily she could move about without pain. Why would she be noticing this? That dream is really sticking with her this morning. She is not in her sixties. She is not divorced, nor has she even been married to Stan Zbornak. Honestly, that would never happen. She definitely wasn’t going to sleep with him tomorrow night on their date either. She was only going out with him so that her mom would stop haranguing her about how dull her life is. 

At breakfast, Dorothy noticed how young her mother was and how being able to have breakfast with her father was such a treat. It had been interesting to see how her mind envisioned how Ma would age, her hair completely white and her face riddled with wrinkles. Hard to imagine her slowing down now. And pop. He can’t pass away so early leaving ma alone to age well into her eighties. He would miss so much, so many Christmases and so many birthdays. Maybe this dream would help her appreciate what she has and who she has in her life. She decides to call and cancel her date with Stan. Better not to risk anything.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After classes, Sophia and Dorothy took a walk through their Brooklyn neighborhood. Dorothy looks at her mother, noticing the lack of lines on her face and lack of grey in her hair. Dorothy shakes her head. She looks the same as she always has. 

“Ma, do your dreams ever feel real or do you ever wish they were real?”

Sophia huffed, “In my time I have found that dreams don’t feel real, or necessarily always come true, but if you make due with what you are given you can experience something truly special.”

Dorothy remembered the first day she taught school, the students that she had been able to help through difficult times and tough subjects. She remembered the day she moved in with Blanche and Rose being the first tangible thing she could grab onto after Stan and her split, the many late nights eating cheesecake finding comfort from each other when they were dealt less than ideal hands in life, the warmth of their welcoming Miami home. Dorothy remembered how lucky she was to have her mother for so long living with her and sharing her, somewhat distorted and convoluted, wisdom. Remembered the dream, Dorothy reminded herself. 

“Ma, I think I want to be a teacher, but I don’t want to lose myself by focusing too much on others.”

“Losing yourself a little wouldn’t be too bad, maybe you’d lose some height and wouldn’t tower over the rest of us so much.”

Dorothy rolled her eyes. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dorothy sat on the couch with a book but couldn’t focus. She realized she knew the end of this story as if she had read it before. She quickly checked the last page of the book to see if she was right. Stunned, she laid it down. 

She started to really think about her dream from the night before. What if wasn’t just a dream? But honestly, could she see herself with a guy like Stan Zbornak. Also why would she marry him knowing that he was going to cheat on her while she was at home raising their children. Their children. Kate and Michael were wonderful and she loves them very much. If she doesn’t marry Stan, Kate and Michael would never be born and she would never watch them grow up and make all the wonderful mistakes that they get to make. Her heart hurt for them thinking that she would never get to watch Kate grow up to be such a strong, independent woman and she would never get to hear Michael play the saxophone. She wasn’t sure why, but she was very attached to these children that she wasn’t even sure were real.  
She thought about pop dying and ma’s stoke. Such terrible pain that she wasn’t ready to experience and honestly wished that she would never have to. Her time, though, with Ma in Miami is some of the sweetest of all her years and she wants those years with all her heart. She wants Miami, all of it. Blanche, with her saucy tales of her, some would think too many, dates. Rose, with her ridiculous stories about St. Olaf but her pure, sweet heart. She does want it all. 

Dorothy thinks to herself that maybe one date with Stan to see how true the dream could be, or at least to have more closure, wouldn’t be such a bad thing. She calls to agree once again to go to the movie the following night right before she goes to bed.  
  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dorothy wakes up ready to go on her date that evening with Stan, sure that she is ready for the life that she is going to live, has lived. She opens her eyes and is shocked to find herself home in Miami. The aches are back in her joints and her body feels slower and more tired even though she is just waking up for the day. Dorothy sighs, relieved to not have to do her life all over again as well as to have the people that she loves so much still in her life. 

Dorothy glances at the clock and sees that it is still only three o’clock in the morning. Not wanting to risk what sleep would bring, she heads to the kitchen to start her day early with some coffee.

As she pushes through the door to the kitchen, she finds Blanche, Sophia, and Rose sitting at the table with more cheesecake and coffee. 

“Couldn’t sleep either? I wonder what it is that awakened you so early?” Rose asked.

“She’s old.” Sophia chimes in. 

“What were you all talking about?” Dorothy asked, sitting down with a cup of coffee. 

Sophia lifts her hands slightly as she says,“I was about to tell the story to end all stories, Picture it, Sicily 1922...”


End file.
